July 1st 2023.
Kelsey Parker has opened up about the pain her family felt on Father's Day, two years after her husband Tom Parker's death. Tom, the Wanted singer, was 33 when he died in March 2022, after battling brain cancer for two years.
Kelsey, 32, has made it her mission to raise awareness about the stages of grief through her ITV documentary, Life After Tom, while also raising their two children; daughter Aurelia, three, and son Bodhi, two.
Last month, to honour her late husband's memory on Father's Day, Kelsey organised a legendary football match, with the likes of Ryan Thomas, Jake Quickenden, Luca Bish, Harry Judd, Ben Cohen, and Thomas Skinner taking to the field at Bromley FC, Parker's favourite football club. It was a difficult day for her children, as Kelsey explained:
"It was tough in the morning when we woke up. The kids had made cards at nursery for Tom, which they make for their daddy, then we went and put them on his bench. It is just tough, and it’s just relentless – it is every day. This morning she said to me: “I miss my dad.” I say, we all miss daddy too. What else do I say? It’s so hard."
Kelsey continued to The Mirror: “Of course we all miss him every single day – there’s not a day that goes by that we don’t think about Tom or talk about Tom. For me, celebrating father’s day, it’s for my children – it’s all for my children, so they can celebrate Tom and that he didn’t die in vain. So we can do something good from a rubbish situation.”
Kelsey recently opened up to The Agency about her struggle with grief and how she found it difficult to adjust to being a widow. She explained: ‘Even when Tom first died, I felt like I had to wear black, and go out and have a veil across my face, and be this mourning widow. But life’s not like that now. We’re so open, we talk about depression, we talk about anxiety. We talk about all this stuff. But no one is talking about grief and I feel [the series] has given us an opportunity to talk about it and say, “you know what, this is what grief actually looks like.” And it’s not about wearing black – I mean, Ashley is wearing denim!’
For anyone struggling with a cancer diagnosis and their loved ones, Macmillan Cancer Support can offer information and support. They have a helpline on 0808 808 00 00 , a webchat service, or you can visit their website for more information.
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